MBJones
New member
I wanted to post this somewhere other than my intro so more folks could find it when searching.
I've searched forums and dealerships for answers to various technical questions prior to purchasing or making mods. There is a lot of misinformation or lack of accurate information on certain topics, so I've joined in order to share my experiences. I'm a degreed mechanical engineer with 35 years experience in new product design and manufacture. Recently I purchased a green tractor and a Normand Hybrid blower and experienced traction issues with R4s. So here is a summary of my experiences.
I grooved my tires with a pattern that would keep the snow captured within the rubber. If the snow is allowed to dynamically extrude out of the grooves, its adhesion to the snow on the ground is compromised since it is always on the move, breaking the mechanical snow bond. Car tires are different since water and snow need to be allowed to leave the tread in order to avoid hydroplaning. Tractors don't have the same requirement. My grooving was initially conservative and I saw much improvement in traction. As I added more grooves I noticed a proportional improvement of traction in snow. Once happy with the snow traction, I found the ice traction lacking. I added sipes to the front and rear tires which helped dramatically on the ice.
My Normand Hybrid 74" blower weighs almost 1100# and should ideally be dragged with full weight of the blower on the surface. My initial traction with R4s was so poor in 4WD, I had to lift the blower a bit off the ground to alleviate the drag resistance and transfer that weight to the rear tires. Once grooved, I no longer had traction issues with the full weight on the blower, even in 2WD. My grooves were made with an Ideal 250watt tool with #4 blade(about 1/4" wide). The grooves were made 1/4" deep. For the sipes, I added a few washer spacers in order to spread the distance between slits to 1/2" and 1/8" deep. Placement of the sipes and grooves was such that I am confident that during summer FEL work, there will be no chunking or compromise of structural integrity. More sipes are better for ice traction, but too many also weakens the tire tread. Even with the relatively hard rubber of R4s, siping DOES make a demonstrable difference.
I cut a template from plastic. Tapping a chalk filled a muslin bag over it gave me a good pattern transfer. I did this for the grooves and the sipes separately. Definitely not the fastest pattern to groove, but I'm happy with the performance results. As a side note, all testing thus far has been with unloaded tires. I just picked up 60 gallons of Rim Guard today and will be filling my rear tires Christmas Eve.
So, otherwise useless R4 tires can be used successfully in snow and ice if they are grooved and siped. Both help significantly. Adding the Rim Guard should help even more. I can't think of anything else that is practical to do to improve traction and shouldn't need to. Hope this helps someone out there.
Merry Christmas!
I've searched forums and dealerships for answers to various technical questions prior to purchasing or making mods. There is a lot of misinformation or lack of accurate information on certain topics, so I've joined in order to share my experiences. I'm a degreed mechanical engineer with 35 years experience in new product design and manufacture. Recently I purchased a green tractor and a Normand Hybrid blower and experienced traction issues with R4s. So here is a summary of my experiences.
I grooved my tires with a pattern that would keep the snow captured within the rubber. If the snow is allowed to dynamically extrude out of the grooves, its adhesion to the snow on the ground is compromised since it is always on the move, breaking the mechanical snow bond. Car tires are different since water and snow need to be allowed to leave the tread in order to avoid hydroplaning. Tractors don't have the same requirement. My grooving was initially conservative and I saw much improvement in traction. As I added more grooves I noticed a proportional improvement of traction in snow. Once happy with the snow traction, I found the ice traction lacking. I added sipes to the front and rear tires which helped dramatically on the ice.
My Normand Hybrid 74" blower weighs almost 1100# and should ideally be dragged with full weight of the blower on the surface. My initial traction with R4s was so poor in 4WD, I had to lift the blower a bit off the ground to alleviate the drag resistance and transfer that weight to the rear tires. Once grooved, I no longer had traction issues with the full weight on the blower, even in 2WD. My grooves were made with an Ideal 250watt tool with #4 blade(about 1/4" wide). The grooves were made 1/4" deep. For the sipes, I added a few washer spacers in order to spread the distance between slits to 1/2" and 1/8" deep. Placement of the sipes and grooves was such that I am confident that during summer FEL work, there will be no chunking or compromise of structural integrity. More sipes are better for ice traction, but too many also weakens the tire tread. Even with the relatively hard rubber of R4s, siping DOES make a demonstrable difference.
I cut a template from plastic. Tapping a chalk filled a muslin bag over it gave me a good pattern transfer. I did this for the grooves and the sipes separately. Definitely not the fastest pattern to groove, but I'm happy with the performance results. As a side note, all testing thus far has been with unloaded tires. I just picked up 60 gallons of Rim Guard today and will be filling my rear tires Christmas Eve.
So, otherwise useless R4 tires can be used successfully in snow and ice if they are grooved and siped. Both help significantly. Adding the Rim Guard should help even more. I can't think of anything else that is practical to do to improve traction and shouldn't need to. Hope this helps someone out there.
Merry Christmas!